Short and Sweet
by LostInTheDreams
Summary: Life is anything but what we plan it to be. Things that seem like they would come out one way come out another. Snake loses interest in Pandora, Kaito loses interest in the normalcy of life. When things take a drastic change, nothing is short and sweet.


Oneshot. Will _not_ be continued. Thank you.

Disclaimer: I do not own Magic Kaito or Detective Conan. Ect...

I am supposed to be working my my longer stories but this one wouldn't let me not write it.  
So here it is.  
I hope you like it

* * *

_**Short and Sweet**_

I wanted something short, simple, and sweet. What I got was something long, depressing and bitter.

I never really thought much of what I would do with my life. At first it was so easy. Go to school. Get good grades. Make friends. Treat others as you'd wish to be treated. Everything was simple in school. Basic mathematical formula's wouldn't suddenly change on you because number six didn't like being by number seven.

It wasn't until years later that the social part of school became a formula to me. Everyone was looking for something in someone else. The _something _that I was never seemed to match with my classmates. Only one understood me and only up until the point that I would let her. Even before I figured out life was complicated I was keeping secrets from her. I never knew why. Even now I don't. Maybe I was setting myself up because I knew one day that I would have to keep my whole world from her.

My father's death didn't change much. I was depressed. No one could blame me. I loved the man with all my heart. But I still had my mother and I still had Aoko and her father so I wasn't alone in my grief. Their compassion kept me floating but that was around the time I stopped feeling as much. Feelings just made things hurt more in the end so I unconsciously started to mute mine.

My father's murder was another story. The walls I built and the dulled colors that surrounded my life were suddenly an intense red of anger at the man who had taken away the person I loved most in this life. My father, my teacher, my best friend. He was going to pay.

That's when everything wasn't so simple anymore. People wouldn't follow equations anymore when their lives, jobs, or livelihood was on the line. Things became dangerous. People I'd look down upon as bullies and jerks were at same level as me. I bullied people that I needed things from. I stole for my own gain. My world of black and white suddenly had vivid obscurity painted across it. Because of my muted emotions, this didn't bother me much. My anger was still red hot and that was all that I needed.

Aoko's words haunted me every now and then.

_You're so cold._

I couldn't fight her on it. I mean, I didn't feel cold. I felt full of energy and righteous vengeance. Nothing about me was cold at all. It was a year later when I had my half-dozenth run in with Snake that I understood her.

I had a gun. I had gotten it from one of Snake's men. They'd been desperate to get me this time because, as I was escaping, the diamond ring shot of a beam of red light as it came in contact with the moon. Some gems did that and I could tell it was natural refraction but they couldn't. So they'd all cornered me and I only just escaped them before knocking out the closest goon and taking his gun.

I pointed it at the back of Snake's head and told him to drop his weapon.

"Why? What are you going to do, shoot me?" The man laughed and it was hard to keep my anger in check as my finger rested against the trigger. "You're a coward!'

The man's arm jerked out to the side and I felt numb, realizing I had just shot him. Snake threw his gun across the floor and turned with glowing eyes and a feral grin. "You sure have gotten confidant Toichi."

"I'm not." I hadn't been thinking before I removed the hat and had the man look at me - _me _- for the first time in his life. His smiled faded before he left out slightly crazed laughter. I kept the gun trained on him as I watched his movements.

"Of course you couldn't be. How stupid of me. I knew I killed him. You can't bring back the dead."

"No, but I can make sure he rests in peace." I fingered some knockout gas in my pocket. The weapons and at least one of Snake's men were here. They'd go to jail on the gun charges at the least and there had to be someone out there looking for Snake's blood if the man was half as bad as I knew he was. Snake went into a bout of laughter again.

"You think this is revenge then? Don't fool yourself kid." Snake shoved his hands in his pockets as if daring me to kill him. "Toichi was in my way, so I removed him. Now I'm in your way kid, and you're removing me. We're the same. Don't pretty up your words. You're just as much of a criminal as I am."

I froze with the capsule resting beneath the tips of my fingers. "I am not. I don't kill people."

"So you're a criminal with morals. You're still a criminal. It's still against the law." He tilted his head back and was grinning again, showing off his pointed fangs that matched his name. "Turn me and you might as well turn yourself in as well, since it would be doing a good thing and taking another criminal off the street. You're contradicting yourself kid. You can't live a contradiction." Snake then walked off as if I didn't hold his life in my hands with the slightest twitch of my finger.

I watched him walk away, confused and torn between my actions. I could have still knocked him out if I wanted to but I wasn't thinking about that at the moment. Even thoughts of killing him in vengeance had disappeared. I let the gun fall to the floor long after everyone had disappeared around me. It clattered loudly against the concrete, echoing lonely into silence as it settled. I was gone before the sound died.

Since then I hadn't run into Snake much and the man hadn't sought me out either. He knew I had to be connected to my father, so I would have been easy to find. As the days went on I let the knowledge that he knew who I was flow to the back of my mind where it could be picked up again but wasn't bothering my everyday life.

That was where my story stopped being 'short'. I couldn't find Pandora. I doubted the thing even existed. Snake seemed to stop trying after a year or so of running around me and the police. I would target large jewels and never see any sign of him. After all the time and effort they put into stopping my father, I felt disappointed when they'd stopped pursuing me. It left my anger with no outlet. I kept at my job anyway, content with having some way that I could feel that I was a part of something bigger than myself. School was normal. Life was normal. I was credibly _not _normal.

As senior year came around, Aoko cornered me and told me that she loved me. She was afraid that she was going to have to move to pursue a career of her choice and didn't want to leave me behind when we graduated. She said she was telling me now so that she could sort out her life. If I wanted her to stay, she would.

I smiled, shrugging my shoulder. It was her life, I told her. Do what makes you happy.

Tears started to pool in her eyes then, when I didn't give her an answer to her confession. She walked away with her head down and I felt another part of me die and fade off into the gray my life had become. It wasn't that I didn't love her. I loved her too much. But staying with me would only hurt her more as time passed. I was broken. I was something that didn't fit into 'normal'. I couldn't answer her because of my own conscience. If I let myself be happy, it would take away from someone else's happiness.

That was where I had always pictured us being together, even if I was Kid, after I was through avenging my father. It would be sweet. We were like two puzzle pieces that fit together perfectly since we were children. We were both broken.

The only difference was, she could be fixed. I couldn't. That was where something that was sweet turned into something bitter. If you leave wine sitting at the wrong temperature too long, the same thing happens. I should have let physics make my judgments on my friendships but life wasn't for me. I wasn't seeing what I should have been seeing. The numbers weren't adding up anymore.

Simple. Nothing was simple anymore. I had no reason to keep looking for the gem. Snake wasn't endangering anyone anymore and Aoko seemed happy now that her father was spending so much time with her. I didn't see much of her because she stopped talking to me after that day, but I could see it in the way she laughed and smiled with her friends. I was part of the reason she hadn't been mending over the years and now, without me, she was well on the road to recovery.

People talked about Kid's waning activity for a while but he soon became old news as everyone was preparing to graduate and make their way into the corporate world. I couldn't find the enthusiasm that everyone else held. Aoko and Keiko were going to go to a university up north for two years. Her father was going to be moved into section one for all his hard work over the years. Everything was looking up for everyone. I couldn't' find the cruelty to let my dim prospects mingle with their hopeful ones.

That was when I stopped going to school.

I stayed home for the first week and mom gave me a look that spoke of her vast knowledge about me. She was my mom after all. She knew more about me than anyone in the whole world. She knew something was coming.

Aoko never stopped by. I kept wishing that she would but she never did. Nakamori came by as Saturday rolled around. My mom lied and said I had been sick. In the meantime I sat on my bed and watched television.

The next week I was gone completely. There wasn't any trace of me left behind, because I'd never really been there. I'd woken up, gone to school, made friends, done what I was told, but I was never there. No one would miss me.

Life was boring so I found some bare interest in traveling. I'd been Kid for over a year, so I never needed any money. I got food when I needed it from those who could afford to lose it. I ran into some interesting people in this time but I never stayed in one place for too long. Kaito was never seen in any of these places either. I was always someone else who looked liked, sounded like, and acted like anyone but Kuroba Kaito.

Before I knew it a year passed like that. I was almost nineteen and I found my way back to my house. The building that I shared with my mom was vacant and I kept searching around for signs of activity, finding none. No one had lived there in months.

"Hello?"

I turned as someone who had been in my class addressed me. My hair was longer now, brushing my shoulders and styled over one side of my face. It was dyed black. I also had thin glasses across my face so I couldn't be recognized.

"Hi." I greeted him. It was bothering me that I couldn't remember his name. I knew the whole school. It seemed as if I was forgetting things that weren't important to me anymore.

"Are you looking for something? I could help you."

I waved him off. "No, nothing in particular. I used to be from around here and was looking for people that I might know."

"I hope it wasn't the Kuroba's." The boy, man more accurately now, looked around as if he'd just said something taboo. I frowned, hoping to get some sort of explanation to go with his strange statement.

"Maybe, why?"

"My apologies then." The boy bowed deeply. I was starting to get memories of him back. He was a good kid. Top of the class with me and Aoko. He had never been much of a talker. "I'm sorry if you knew them."

"Wait." I shook my head. "What happened?"

"You don't know?" The teen looked around. "Don't listen to the news. Those reporters are a bunch of vultures! They don't know anything! Kaito-kun wouldn't have done that!"

I put a hand on his shoulder to calm him. Kitsuyama. That was his name.

"I believe you. What happened?"

Kitsuyama shook his head. "I'm not sure. The police wouldn't tell us much. It was about a year ago though. Kaito-kun, did you know him?"

I nodded. "A little."

"Well, he stopped coming to school for some reason. Some of us were worried but you know how he was, right? I mean, we weren't surprised when he ditched for a while. Then his mother reported that he was just missing when the police came. No one knew where he went. About a week later someone broke into their house. Um."

Kitsuyama looked around again as if expecting someone to hurt him for what he was saying. He started twirling his fingers and it was hard to hold back the urge for me to shake him when he stopped talking.

"They, ah, killed his mom I guess. The police wouldn't tell us much, like I said. They kept saying how Kaito-kun must have joined some type of gang and got on the wrong side of them or something. I heard there was a lot of blood. Sorry!" Kitsuyama bowed deeply twice. "I mean, I'm sorry that it happened! I didn't mean- ah, I'm sorry!"

He put a hand on my shoulder and walked away. "Don't believe them okay? We all know that Kaito-kun didn't do anything like that. It was a burglary gone bad and don't let anyone tell you different." The teen walked off, looking like a beaten puppy as he scampered away. I must have had a strange look on my face for him to act that way around me. I knew I was clenching my first so hard that it hurt, but I wasn't too sure what outwardly signs I was showing.

Someone had killed Mom. It seemed like it was a gang. It was someone who was mad at me. There was only one person who fit that bill and it made my blood start to sing with emotions I hadn't felt in ages.

_I should have killed him when I had the chance._

The thoughts traveled through my head without anything to restrain them now. I didn't have mom and I didn't have Aoko anymore. Without buffers my anger knew where it had to go and what I had to do. If it was the last thing I did, I would make that man suffer.

It was hard to find Snake. The man wasn't as forward as I remembered him, but he was a criminal and, retired or not, Kid had connections to criminals. The man was in the snipping business now. He had several targets and I made it my goal to protect those people. I didn't even care when one of them was a twelve year old girl.

"Who are you?"

I turned and faced Nakamori who I hadn't seen in years. He was near one of the politicians I was watching. The man seemed the most likely candidate to get knocked off first on Snake's list.

"I'm no one. I'm just visiting." My normal voice had changed over the years. It had gotten deeper and I'd practiced a slight accent that stayed with me when I wasn't purposely trying to hide my voice.

"Well stay out of the way. You don't want to get yourself in trouble." The man moved past me without hesitating. I knew I was good but for him not to recognize me even a little when I wasn't wearing anything showed how much I'd changed in only a year. That, or glasses were just that good of a disguise.

Nakamori and the man went into a room and locked the door. By the sound of the voices that wafted out before the door snicked closed, there were quite a few others in there as well.

I went outside and waited for the inevitable.

Snake was good. I watched as he positioned a riffle on top of a nearby building to wait for the man to leave. I made my way slowly up an adjacent building and, with a few of my old tricks, made my way silently over to him.

I coughed purposely and the man startled, knocking the leveler under his gun over.

"Miss me?" I grinned at him, knowing my eyes were glowing.

Snake laughed before taking his hat off to scratch the top of his head and returning it. "Not much kid."

"You knew I'd be coming for you." I drew a gun from the side of my pants. I'd liberated it earlier from a police officer. I didn't care much about how much trouble they would be in when they found me with the weapon.

"No I didn't. I don't care much for scum. You, kid, completely slipped my mind."

I growled out a breath and let him see that I was willing to kill him this time. "You killed my father and my mother. What made you think you would be safe from me?"

"A coward who runs away? Why would I be afraid of you? You're weak. I can see it in your eyes. You're angry but you won't kill me."

I pulled the hammer back prepared myself. "Try me."

I was ready now. Snake was before me and I could finally have my revenge for all the hurt he caused my family.

"Don't!" Someone vaguely familiar ran in front of me. They were panting with their arms spread out as if to protect Snake. "Put the gun down!"

"That's unlikely," I told the person before me. They looked young. It would be a shame to kill them. I was ready to kill Snake. He

deserved it. But this man in front of him didn't have to die. "Move."

"No." The person lowered their hands slightly but not completely, before taking a few steps closer to me. "I heard what you said. Revenge doesn't help anyone. Don't shoot or you'll be just as bad as him. As happy as his death may seem to you now, you'll only regret it in the future. Don't brand yourself a murderer."

"I'll do whatever I want. I told you to move." I tried to position myself around the man but he kept putting himself in the line of fire. Now I had to think. Did I want to kill Snake enough to injure this person? I was fast. I knew it. I could move but the man would get in the way. He'd get hurt but Snake would die. Was I willing to do that?

Yes.

"Please don't!"

I jerked my arms back as a woman ran out next to the man. I felt my mouth open and my eyes widen as I saw her. It was Aoko. It had to be her. She hadn't changed much in a year. She'd cut her hair a little shorter and she wasn't wearing her school uniform, but it was her. I lowered the gun to my side, unable to even hold it up with her in the way.

Something out of the corner of my eye, that wasn't focusing completely on the only girl I loved, caught the motion.

"Move!"

I knew I was fast but I also knew how slow humans were compared to bullets. The man caught on and moved to push Aoko out of the way faster than I could. I felt the round tear into my side as I tried to escape. I half collapsed on the roof below me as I heard something hard hit against something else. I looked up to see the nose of the gun Snake had been pointing at the three of us resting on the ground and the gunman unconscious as the young man who had stopped me fixed his clothes and ran over to me.

"Are you all right?"

I knew who he was. Why couldn't I remember his name? I hadn't seen him before now though, but I _knew _who he was. I felt as the roof seemed to move underneath me.

"I'm fine," I answered automatically, putting a hand to my side. It was a large round and had done a lot of damage. I'd die if I didn't go to a hospital.

"You are not fine! Sit down." The man shoved me as I tried to get up. I darted away from him and got to my feet a meter or so back. Aoko had moved to watch us. I'd been afraid of what I would see but she didn't seem to care too much if she was close to the man or not. She had just been trying to stop me from shooting anyone. I let out a sigh and a small chuckle at how happy that made me. Then I remember that she should have already started school up north. What was she doing here still?

"Aoko-chan, can you get him?" The man looked over at Aoko while he tried to get closer to me and I backed up. Aoko nodded and pulled out a set of handcuffs. I raised my eyebrows.

"Now. Who are you? What are you doing here?" The man turned back to me and I grinned.

"I'm no one and I'm doing nothing."

"Please, if what you said is true, give me your name. We've been trying to get this man for months and the only thing we can charge him with right now is attempted murder. Help us."

"No." I backed away, looking over at Snake who sat unconscious as Aoko held the back of his wrists. "I'm done here."

"So you want him to get away with the murder of your parents?"

I froze, glaring at the man. His blue eyes looked so damned familiar but that didn't matter at the moment. He made me angry.

"My testimony will do nothing for you. The courts won't take the word of a criminal."

The man seemed confused before his eyes started to clear. "Oh. So you're Kaitou Kid."

Aoko jolted up and I shrugged. "What made you think that?"

"I told you that we've been after him for months. We traced him, and his first few murders all had to do with gems. We connected the dots later and found out about assassination attempts on Kid. If you're after him, I can only think it was because he was after you."

"You can see how I'm not of any use to you then." I coughed, feeling a few of my lower ribs move in and out of place where the bullet had hit me.

"Then at least get yourself some help. We won't tell anyone who you are, but we'll need your real name if we're to help you." The man held out his hand to me as if offering a truce. "I know you're not a bad person. Trust me."

I coughed a few more times and held my side. They'd be able to identify me anyway if they took me in. I shrugged again and leaned against the wall. "Kuroba Kaito."

I heard Aoko take in a sudden breath and the man's eyes widened. "Really?"

"You think I'm lying to you?" I smiled, feeling the traces of who I was come back in small bits. "I could never fool you Kudo-kun. What are you doing with Aoko?"

"Looking for you, believe it or not." Shinichi smiled in return and put his hands on his hips. "The whole worlds been looking for you. The real you I mean. A lot of people thought you were dead."

"I am."

I met Shinichi's eyes and he mine. There was a strong connection there. I'd have to ask him when he stopped being his shorter self. Shinichi knelt down next to me and Aoko came to stand next to him.

I looked up into her eyes as well. They were full of tears just like they were that day over a year ago. Oh how I still loved her even now. I coughed, looking away.

"You could have just told me."

I stared back up at her after hearing her voice. It had changed slightly. It wasn't as childishly high pitched.

"Told you what?"

"That you loved me too." She smiled and a few tears leaked out of her eyes. "I'm only smart after the fact. I know that you lied to me. I never knew why."

"But you do now." I closed my eyes so I wouldn't have to see either of them. I'd just told one of the best detectives I knew who I was. Not only that, but I'd told Aoko. She and Nakamori could prove it if they tried. It wouldn't take Shinichi long to find Kid's room in my house.

I felt a warm hand on my face and I jumped, hitting my head on the wall behind me.

"Kaito, I thought you were dead." I could hear her crying. "I lost my mom, then you, then your mom. Do you think I care who you used to be? I love you Kaito."

I felt her arms wrap around my shoulders and I held her lightly in return with the arm that didn't hurt to move. "I'm sorry Aoko. I never meant to hurt you."

"But do you love me?"

There was that question again. I'd already hurt her so much, she didn't deserve anymore pain. My hand fell. "I love you enough to know that I'm no good for you. I'm not normal."

"Kaito." She sighed and drew away to smile at me. "I liked you _because_ you're not normal. It hurts more to be apart from you than you can ever believe. Disappearing again like you did is what hurts. So if you if want me not to hurt anymore, tell me the truth and that you'll stay."

"Fine." I laughed softly, letting all the burdens that I'd been carrying for the last two years fall away. "I love you Aoko."

She kissed me and I didn't even mind the bitter taste of blood in my mouth.

"You said you were dead." Shinichi stood up with a grin. "Lets fix that."

...

So life is not short, no matter how short it seems or how much time you spend on this earth. It is long enough to be missed by at least one person. One person is enough. Life is also not sweet. There is bitterness hidden in everything, even a kiss. But most of all, life is not simple. It's complicated. It's a puzzle that needs to be figured out each and ever day, built upon by the people you care about.

So if anyone ever tells you that something's, or someone's, life has been short and sweet, call them a liar and and hit them in the face with a trout.


End file.
